Nehemiah

NEHEMI'AH (whom Jehovah consoles). Son of Hachaliah, the distinguished and pious restorer and governor of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. The forlorn condition of the remnant of returned Hebrews in Jerusalem awakened his deepest sympathy and enkindled his patriotism, Neh 1:4. The condition of his feelings soon became known to King Artaxerxes, at whose court he held the high position of cup-bearer. Ruth 2:1. At his eager request, Neh 2:5, the king granted Nehemiah permission to return to the land of his fathers, Num 2:7, and gave him letters of safe escort to the governors beyond the Euphrates, and orders for timber on the keeper of the royal forest. At Jerusalem desolation and ruin met him on every hand, but he makes the proposition and oversees the execution of restoring the city. Num 2:18. The people co-operate heartily with their enthusiastic leader in the reconstruction of the walls and gates, but the work is not completed without insidious and determined opposition. Sanballat was at the head of it. These enemies endeavored to overthrow Nehemiah by false charges of intended rebellion against the Persian supremacy, Neh 6:7-19, and to intimidate him, but all in vain. The work of reconstruction accomplished, he re-established the religious customs of his fathers by bringing the Law into new esteem, Isa 8:3, and the reinstitution of the Sabbath, offerings, etc., Ezr 10:29, sqq. He also made special legislation for the government of the city. Nehemiah administered the government of Jerusalem twelve years, Neh 5:14, and at the end of this period returned to Persia, where he remained for some time. Neh 13:6. During his absence most flagrant abuses crept in, which on his return he made it his first business to correct, especially the violation of the Sabbath and heathen marriages, Neh 13. By these means he restored his people, in some degree, to their former happy condition, and probably remained in power till his death, which it is supposed took place in Jerusalem. Few men in any age of the world have combined in themselves a more rigid adherence to duty, a sterner opposition to wrong, private or public, a more unswerving faith in God, or a purer patriotism, than Nehemiah. Book of, is the sixteenth in the order of the books of the O.T. It may be regarded as a continuation of or supplement to the book of Ezra, which immediately precedes it. It is concerned with Nehemiah's great work of rebuilding Jerusalem and the reclamation of the customs and laws of Moses, which had fallen into desuetude. It gives the whole history of this movement in the circumstances which led to it, the elements of opposition which threatened to defeat it, and the complete success which crowned it. Incidentally we are admitted to a glance at the then condition, moral and political, of the Jews, at the growing bitterness between them and the Samaritans, and at some scenes in Assyrian life. The account of the walls and gates in Neh 3 is among the most valuable documents for the settlement of the topography of ancient Jerusalem. The registers and lists of names are also of value. Nehemiah is the author of the first seven chapters, and part of the twelfth and thirteenth. The change from the use of the first person to that of the third in the remaining chapters, and the fact that some names in the lists were not extant till after Nehemiah's death, point to some other hand as their author. One who returned in the first expedition from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Ezr 2:2; Neh 7:7. The son of Azbuk, who helped to repair the gates of Jerusalem. Neh 3:16.